Customer story: Transfero
How Transfero went from spreadsheets to a branded EU payment platform in under 8 weeks
Transfero is a licensed European payment institution serving individuals and businesses across 30+ EU countries. Finhost connected it to a tier 1 bank and delivered virtual IBAN accounts, SEPA and SWIFT payments, onboarding, compliance tools and back office, all under Transfero's own brand.
Your virtual IBANPL•• •••• •••• •••• •••• 4821
SEPA transfer from a virtual IBAN
- Created in the app
- Compliance check passed
- Sent via tier 1 bank
Transfero at a glance
- Type
- Licensed EU payment institution
- Home market
- Poland, serving 30+ EU countries
- Customers
- Individuals and businesses
- Starting point
- Existing licence and customers, manual processes
- Finhost delivered
- White-label web and mobile apps, core, back office
- Banking
- Direct connection to tier 1 bank mBank
- Accounts
- Virtual IBANs for every customer
- Integrations
- Sumsub, card issuing partner
- Time to launch
- Under 8 weeks
A licence and real customers, but no platform to grow on
Transfero came to Finhost with its licence in place and a growing customer base. Operations ran on manual processes and spreadsheets, which worked at a small scale and stopped working as the business expanded across the EU.
A product customers could use themselves
A branded platform where individuals and businesses open accounts, pass verification and send payments without the Transfero team doing it by hand.
Bank-grade rails and real account details
Customers needed their own IBANs and payments that run through a tier 1 bank, not a chain of intermediaries.
Compliance rules that match the licence
Transfero's licence comes with specific oversight duties, including manual review above set thresholds and enhanced due diligence for corporate clients. The platform had to enforce those rules, not generic ones.
Room to expand without rebuilding
Launch fast with EUR and PLN, then add GBP, USD, mobile apps and cards later, on the same foundation.
What Finhost built for Transfero
Everything runs under the Transfero brand, on Finhost's white-label core banking platform.
Branded web, iOS and Android apps
Transfero launched with web banking first. The iOS and Android apps followed in the second phase, on the same core, so customers kept their accounts, history and logins.
- Transfero branding across every screen, email and notification
- Localized for customers across 30+ EU countries
- Separate journeys for individual and business customers
Related Finhost features
Multi-currency accounts with virtual IBANs
Every customer, individual or business, gets a dedicated virtual IBAN issued through Transfero's tier 1 banking partner. Incoming payments are matched to the right customer automatically, with no manual reconciliation. EUR and PLN went live at launch. GBP and USD were designed into the account structure from day one, so adding them is configuration, not a new project.
- Accounts in EUR, PLN, GBP and USD
- A dedicated virtual IBAN per customer
- Incoming payments credited to the right account automatically
- Downloadable statements
Related Finhost features
SEPA and SWIFT transfers
Payments run through a direct integration with mBank, one of Poland's largest banks, with compliance checks before money moves and clear status tracking for the customer and the operations team.
- SEPA transfers in EUR
- SWIFT for international payments
- Status tracking from creation to settlement
Related Finhost features
KYC, KYB and UBO verification
Business onboarding in the EU means verifying the company and every ultimate beneficial owner. We set up Sumsub with separate levels for business checks and for the people behind the business, so each step runs on the right rules.
- Digital KYC for individuals
- KYB for companies, with UBO checks
- Manual review step for enhanced due diligence
Related Finhost features
A back office the compliance team runs themselves
Manual reviews, user management and transaction monitoring sit in one admin console. Transfero's compliance team works there directly, without asking developers to pull data or change rules.
- Configurable manual review rules and thresholds
- Transaction monitoring and limits
- Operations, compliance and reporting tools
Related Finhost features
Card program for individuals and businesses
Cards were connected through an issuing partner in the second phase, as a premium part of Transfero's offer. Because the platform was planned for it, cards arrived without disrupting existing customers.
- Cards for individual and corporate users
- Integrated with the issuing partner
- Managed from the same app and back office
Related Finhost features
How the pieces connect
Transfero owns the licence, the customers and the brand. Finhost runs the technology in between and connects it directly to a tier 1 bank and the verification providers.
Who uses it
Customers
- Individualsacross 30+ EU countries
- Businesseswith directors and UBOs verified
What they see
Transfero apps
- Web bankinglive at launch
- iOS and Androidadded in phase two
- Localizedonboarding, emails and notifications
What runs underneath
Finhost core
- Accounts and ledgervirtual IBANs in EUR, PLN, GBP, USD
- Payments engineSEPA, SWIFT, status tracking
- Compliance engineKYC, KYB, manual review rules
- Back officeoperations, monitoring, reporting
Who it connects to
Providers
- mBank, tier 1 bankvirtual IBANs, EUR and PLN accounts, SEPA and SWIFT
- SumsubKYC, KYB and UBO checks
- Card issuing partnerindividual and corporate cards
From kickoff to live in under 8 weeks
The bank onboarding ran in parallel with the platform build, so it never held up the launch.
- 1
About 2 weeks
Discovery and setup
Requirements checklist, licence constraints mapped, bank onboarding started, app design agreed.
- 2
About 4 to 6 weeks
Build and integrations
Web app, mBank and Sumsub connected, compliance rules configured, testing on mock providers until the bank was ready.
- 3
Under 8 weeks
Go-live
EUR and PLN virtual IBAN accounts live across 30+ EU countries, with the compliance team already working in the back office.
- 4
Phase two
Mobile apps and cards
iOS and Android apps and the card program rolled out on the same core, without disrupting live customers.
The hard parts, and how we handled them
Every regulated launch has a few problems that a demo never shows. These were Transfero's.
Compliance rules specific to Transfero's licence
The licence comes with specific oversight duties, including mandatory manual review above set thresholds and enhanced due diligence for corporate clients.
Configured the compliance engine with manual review rules that Transfero's compliance team operates directly from the back office.
Serving customers in 30+ countries
Customers across the EU expect the product in their own language, from sign-up to the last notification email.
Enabled every available platform language except Arabic and localized onboarding flows, notifications and email templates.
Connecting to a tier 1 bank
A tier 1 bank like mBank has its own onboarding, technical requirements and compliance checks before it issues virtual IBANs to a payment institution. Waiting for that to finish before building would have stretched the timeline.
Ran the bank integration in parallel with the platform build and tested against mock providers in staging, so the switch to live rails was a short final step.
Business onboarding with beneficial owners
EU business onboarding means verifying the company and each ultimate beneficial owner, which turns one check into several.
Set up Sumsub with separate verification levels for KYB and for UBO identity checks, each with its own configuration, so the multi-step flow runs cleanly.
What changed for Transfero
Transfero now runs a fully branded cross-border payment platform under its own licence, for both individual and business customers across the EU.
Before Finhost
- Manual processes and spreadsheets
- Growth limited by how much the team could do by hand
- No self-service product for customers
- No foundation for apps, cards or new currencies
After Finhost
- Branded web platform live in under 8 weeks
- Virtual IBANs for every customer, through a tier 1 bank
- Customers onboarded and paying across 30+ EU countries
- Compliance team running reviews in its own back office
- Mobile apps and cards added without re-architecture
What other payment institutions can take from this
Design for every currency you plan, launch with the ones you need
Transfero went live with EUR and PLN, but the account structure was built for four. Adding currencies later stays a configuration task.
Never let the bank be the critical path
Onboarding with a tier 1 bank takes as long as it takes. Building against mock providers in parallel is what kept this launch under 8 weeks.
Launch on web, then add apps and cards
A smaller first release gets revenue moving sooner. The second phase is easy when the platform was planned for it.
Configure compliance to your licence
Your licence defines your thresholds, review duties and due diligence. The platform should enforce those, and your compliance team should control them.
Questions about this project
How long did it take Transfero to launch?
Under 8 weeks from kickoff to go-live: about 2 weeks for discovery and setup, then 4 to 6 weeks for the build and integrations. Mobile apps and cards followed in a second phase.
Which currencies and payment rails does Transfero use?
EUR and PLN accounts with virtual IBANs went live at launch through a direct connection to mBank, a tier 1 Polish bank, with SEPA and SWIFT transfers. The platform was designed to support GBP and USD as well, so they can be added without rebuilding.
Does every customer get their own IBAN?
Yes. Each individual and business customer receives a dedicated virtual IBAN through Transfero's tier 1 banking partner, and incoming payments are credited to the right account automatically.
Can a payment institution launch on web first and add mobile apps later?
Yes. Transfero launched with web banking, then added iOS and Android apps and a card program on the same Finhost core. Customers kept their accounts and history.
How are manual compliance reviews handled?
Review rules and thresholds are configured in the Finhost compliance engine. Flagged customers and transactions land in the back office, where Transfero's compliance team reviews and decides on them directly.
Running a licensed payment institution in Europe?
Tell us about your licence, markets and banking partners. We will come back with a realistic plan for the platform, integrations and launch timeline, based on projects like Transfero.
Talk to the Finhost team
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Tell us about your projectOr call +372 5368 7222 or email hello@finhost.io